


Right Here

by jazzyo3



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hospital, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:01:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzyo3/pseuds/jazzyo3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray develops feelings for Gavin and Michael tries to do what's best for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Right Here - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so let me just start by saying I’ve never written a fic before now. I felt somewhat inspired though so I thought I’d try it. I honestly kind of like it, you may judge for yourself though! Please feel free to leave comments or constructive criticism or let me know if you want more!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where are you, Vav?!  
> Right here, X-Ray!"

  


“Fucking god _dammit_ ,” Michael groaned.

The office was quiet except for Michael’s occasional profanity. It was six in the morning on a Monday and most of the crew was still at home, asleep. Ray slouched in his chair at his desk, editing a recent Minecraft Let’s Play, headphones resting around his neck. Next to him sat a frustrated Michael who was staring at a screen depicting some character’s looped death as the curly-haired boy desperately tried to reach the next checkpoint.

“Well, I guess that motherfucker finally decided not t— _nope,_ nevermind, my character’s dick has been torn off yet again.” Michael ripped off his headphones and dropped them in front of his monitor, leaning back in his chair with an aggravated expression for a minute before returning to the challenge in front of him.

By now, Ray had gotten used to Michael’s raging over video games, both on and off video. It was common for all of the men to be idly sitting at their computers, chatting and getting work done while Michael went off on a tangent for a Rage Quit or otherwise yelled at his monitor. The only time they would flinch would be when there was sound of a controller or other hard object hitting against the desk and/or floor. Ray continued to work alongside the boy, rubbing his glasses as Michael just whimpered, too tired to produce an actual rage.

Around New Year’s, Michael had promised Ray to make it his resolution that he would begin coming to work earlier. Albeit a drunken promise, Ray held him to it due to Michael’s constant mocking of how early he would arrive to work himself. Michael now regretted everything from Ray’s new-found source of gloating to his daily struggle to stay awake in the mornings. Now the two boys were usually the first to arrive at the office, Ray composed and ready to work, and Michael groggy and grumpier than usual.

Ray saved his progress and stretched his arms toward Michael to annoy him. Michael glared in response. “What the fuck do you want, Ray?” he spat, not tearing his eyes from the game.

“Since you’re all fuckin’ cheery this morning, I thought we could go get some breakfast,” he offered, laughing at Michael’s half-lidded yet angry expression. Michael turned toward him to reply with a sarcastic insult, but as if on cue, Gavin swung the door open and entered with a grin and a big, white paper bag. “Who wants breakfast?!”

Ray chuckled at the timing of Gavin’s appearance and gave him a questioning look. “What brings _you_ here so early?”

Gavin rolled his eyes but still kept his smile. “Bloody ‘ell. It took all I had in me to get up this morning – ionno how you do it, Ray, I think you’re of a different species.”

“Shut the fuck up, Gavin, jesus,” Michael muttered. “You’re the one that can’t even speak English.” With lack of sleep, Michael couldn’t even tolerate five minutes of the giddy British boy.

“Oh, calm down and take your _gubbins,_ ” Gavin joked, handing Michael a couple wrapped items from the bag. “You’re why I’m here right now, anyway,” he said, finally getting to Ray’s question. “I know you’ve been a grumpy little git in the mornings so I decided to help you out a bit. You need a good start to the day,” he explained and then ruffled Michael’s curls. Ray almost thought he imagined it, but he actually saw Michael’s face light up with a smile for a second.

Michael spun back around toward his desk and began to unwrap his food. Gavin giggled and proceeded to sit at his own desk next to him. “Uhh, hey, you get me any?” Ray asked, a little confused. “Oh, yeah. Sorry Ray,” responded the Brit as he gave him his food and immediately turned back to startup his computer.

“Um, thanks,” he muttered, but Gavin already had his headphones in place. Ray glanced at Michael eating before he returned to his editing. _Alright then._

He was halfway done when he heard Gavin’s chirping voice. “Did you like it, Michael?” he asked, smiling up at the other boy as he was getting up to throw his garbage away. “ _Did you like it, Mi-cool?!_ ” he mocked back as he left the room. Gavin just giggled.

_ That wasn’t even funny.  _ Ray’s confusion soon turned to irritation, and he wasn’t quite sure why. He began to realize that he liked when no one but him and Michael were there in the mornings, not because he wanted to bond with Michael or anything, but… maybe because Michael and Gavin weren’t around each other? He wasn’t sure, and he got internally more upset as he thought about it, which made him even more confused. He decided to try and drown it out and turned up the audio as he edited, not noticing that he was squeezing his fist.

Michael returned to his seat. “What the hell are you looking at, Gav?” he questioned after noticing Gavin’s stare. Gavin played it off. “What? Nothing, Michael. I just don’t get why you’re dying so much.” Michael smiled but didn’t change his tone. “Fuck off.”

_ Nothing, Mi-cool!  _ Ray mocked him in his mind. Wait, why was he doing that? He didn’t even realize he was paying attention to their conversation. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the last twenty minutes. Ray had come to work early every day in the past; why hadn’t Gavin brought _him_ any special grumpy-git-breakfast? And why hadn’t he rustled _his_ hair to piss him off? And why didn’t he pronounce _his_ name in a really stupid and irritating way?

Ray shook his head a bit and unclenched his jaw. There was really nothing he could do about it. As he sat there editing, he tried to convince himself that he didn’t care about Gavin’s annoying little remarks and looks he shot Michael’s way. He did his best to immerse himself in the footage in front of him.

But as the video played Ray being lost somewhere in a Minecraft forest shouting, “Where are you, Vav?!” and being answered with, “Right here, X-Ray!”, Gavin’s words overlapped with his own as he shouted, “Right here, Michael!” in person, pointing to the checkpoint on Michael’s monitor as he laughed.

_ Yeah. Right here, Vav. _


	2. Right Here - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lately, some things weren’t being told. They both knew that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really excited to continue my first fic, so here you go. Enjoy. :)

  


Ray had calmed down after the rest of the guys came to the office. All he had to do was endure an hour and a half of gritting his teeth as Gavin leaned against Michael and watched his video game, making purposefully stupid comments to get a reaction. As soon as Geoff walked through the door, Ray mentally sighed with relief and greeted him as he would any other day. Maybe if he acted normally then he would start thinking normally, too. It was easier to do as Jack arrived, then Ryan. The focus slowly shifted from the two boys next to him to the entire office in general.

They were then getting ready to film a Left for Dead 2 Let’s Play. Michael started off with the audio check. He announced in a low and intense voice, “Now introducing, _Ray Narvaez Jr.!_ ” Ray gave a half smile but didn’t respond, instead just continuing with a normal “testing, one two.” Gavin chimed in with a shout of “Teaaaam NICE DYNAMITE!” which was followed by a chuckle from Michael. Ray wished he could shoot them a glare but he knew it wouldn’t make any sense on their end. He just wanted to ignore them and get through the day, so for this Let’s Play, he paid full attention to Geoff. It didn’t work out very well, though, because Geoff would always go off on his own and with Ray following him it just split up the team into groups, resulting in everyone being crowded by zombies.

“Come on, Ray! We need you!” a desperate Michael shouted as his player Nick laid on the ground way behind him. Ray turned Rochelle around and considered going back to help him but Gavin interrupted with an “I GOT YOU, NICK!” as Ellis ran to pick him up. Ray just gave a small sigh and went back to following Geoff’s Coach. Soon the group was caught up with each other near the edge of a building and Gavin found himself falling off of it. Michael and Geoff didn’t notice and kept advancing, leaving Ray alone near Gavin’s helpless character holding on to the building. “Rochelle! Come on, get me up! I’m gonna dead!” Gavin continued to shout as if he were actually hanging on to the ledge of a building. Ray changed his camera angle and pretended not to notice. “R-Ray?” Gavin muttered. “Oh, shit, sorry. Didn’t notice you there,” Ray lied as Michael went back, already helping him up.

After they completed the level, it was around noon. Ray stood up to leave, wanting to be anywhere but in that room. Jack stopped him before he could manage to get out the door. “Hey, you wanna get something to eat?” he offered. Ray couldn’t tell if Jack was just being nice or if he had noticed his upset mood. _I thought I was hiding it pretty well…_ But Jack always seemed to have a way of deciphering everyone’s moods and would do his best to cheer them up. “Nah, I’m just gonna get something from the fridge.” Ray gave the most genuine smile he could manage and beelined for the kitchen.

Michael watched as Ray left and also declined to go out for lunch. “You sure?” asked Gavin. “Yeah. Not that hungry from breakfast I guess,” Michael mumbled before leaving for the kitchen after Ray. Gavin nodded with a somewhat disappointed expression and got up to leave with Jack.

Ray was staring at the contents of the fridge when Michael entered the room without him noticing. “Hey.” Ray nearly jumped out of his skin. “Jesus,” he muttered before turning around. He nodded a greeting of his own and made his way to the cupboard, taking out a Cup O’ Noodles and then starting to boil water.

“So, uh. What’s up?” Michael asked gently. Ray paused for a moment while looking at the pot before looking up. “Boiling water. You?”

Michael walked closer and leaned over the counter that was behind Ray. “No shit, Ray.” He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to refrain from getting angry. “I’m trying to ask what’s up with you. What was that?”

Ray did his best to sound confused. “What was what?” He still didn’t look at Michael.

Michael huffed. “Could you please fucking turn around?” Ray slowly did so and leaned his lower back against the stove, hands on either side. “Look, I’m not stupid. What’s wrong?” he asked, his tone slowly softening. “Did… did I do something?”

Ray looked down and shook his head. This wasn’t Michael’s fault. Whatever Gavin was doing had nothing to do with the red-headed boy. For all Michael knew, nothing was going on. At least from his end. Ray sighed. “No, no you didn’t.” Michael was Ray’s best friend and it wasn’t fair to shut him out like that. He was the whole reason Ray was even still working for Rooster Teeth. They told each other everything. But lately, some things weren’t being told. They both knew that.

“I’m sorry. It’s not you.” Ray dragged a hand down his face in frustration. _He_ didn’t even know what it was. At least… he didn’t think he did. What the hell was going on?

Michael looked relieved but confused. “Well what the hell is it?” he asked with a soft smile to show his sympathy.

Ray thought for a moment. “Uhh, yeah, well… Let me put it this way. I don’t know, but I have a theory, but I don’t want to say it out loud.”

Michael sat upright and looked at him like he was insane. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t… I don’t want to say it. If I said it then it would make it true,” Ray mumbled, embarrassed.

Michael stared at him. “Are you fucking five?! Just tell me!”

“No!”

“Ray! Just say it!”

“N—” Ray’s protest was cut off as hot water started to spill against his back. He had forgotten about the water he was boiling. He hissed and moved away from it immediately, stretching out his shirt so the water wouldn’t be in contact with his skin. “Dammit!”

Michael just laughed as the water continued to boil over and Ray tried to compose himself. He walked over and turned the stove off for him. “You okay?” he asked and raised an eyebrow. Ray was trying to ring the water out of the back of his shirt. “Yeah. I guess.”

Michael took the opportunity to grab Ray’s Cup O’ Noodles as he was at the sink. He walked over to the trash compactor and held it over the top. He cleared his throat loudly and Ray turned around, smoothing out his shirt. “Uh, what are you doing?”

Michael smiled. “Tell me.”

Ray smirked. “Cute.” He turned around and reached into the cupboard, quickly realizing that that was the last Cup O’ Noodles. His expression turned grim and he faced Michael again. He really wanted that Cup O’ Noodles. It made up half of his diet. “Okay Michael, could you just give it—” Ray reached to grab it out of his hand but Michael swooped it out of reach. Ray just glared at him.

Michael glared back. “Just tell me, you dick!”

Ray looked down at his fidgeting hands and sighed. He felt stupid.

“I, uhh… I think I like Gavin.”


	3. Right Here - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "His stupid noises, and his stupid vocabulary, and his stupid hair…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s part 3! I apologize for how close together these are coming out. Or if you like that, then… you’re welcome. Enjoy! :)

Michael shook his head in disbelief for a moment. "You're joking, right?" he asked with a slight laugh.

Ray almost looked hurt. "Yeah. Just joking," he mumbled before snatching his Cup O' Noodles and pouring the hot water into it.

Michael just stared at him. "I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "I just... How long has this been... How long have you felt this way?"

Ray took a fork and sat down at the counter. "Why do we need to talk about it?" he said with a harsh tone. "You already got me to admit something that I hadn't even admitted to myself. You think I want to feel like this?" He looked Michael straight in the eye.

Michael sat next the boy, defeated. "I'm sorry, man," was all he could think of to say as he put his hand on Ray's shoulder.

Ray looked back to his food. "Yeah," he muttered. He couldn't talk about it anymore. He wasn't even planning on thinking about it in the first place. He definitely couldn't tell Michael about how watching Gavin's behavior towards him made him feel something he had never felt before. He hated it. And he definitely didn't want to admit to himself that he was actually jealous. He'd done enough admitting for the time being.

Michael made himself a sandwich and they both ate next to each other in silence. It made Michael feel uncomfortable, like anything he would say would make Ray upset. It was true. Ray mentally thanked him for keeping quiet.

Ray finished eating and cleaned up. He lingered in the kitchen for a moment, watching Michael. "Can we not talk about this again?" he requested while his face showed no sign of expression.

Michael nodded after a bit of hesitation. He didn't like this side of Ray. It scared him, not knowing what he could do to help his best friend. All he could think of to do was keep his distance for as long as Ray needed it. "Yeah. 'Course."

Michael watched as Ray stormed out, leaving him with a sick feeling of helplessness.

\------------------------------------------------------

Ray felt guilty for getting angry at Michael but he couldn’t really control himself right now. He made a mental note to apologize later. It was Gavin’s turn to edit their recent Let’s Play so he was quiet for the rest of the day. Ray appreciated the silence and used the couple hours to set his mind at ease. It wasn’t completely at ease, though, with Team Mavin sitting next to him, but it was a lot better. He noticed Jack glancing at him more than a few times and felt awkward. He could tell that he was trying to figure out whatever was going on. Ray made sure to give no hint that there was an issue, though, and stayed focused on his work until the end of the day.

When he was finished, he gathered his things together and stretched a bit. He glanced at Michael and accidentally made eye contact. Michael tried to give him a look of comfort but Ray turned away immediately. Jack and Ryan weren’t in the room at the time so it was just Ray, Michael, Gavin, and Geoff. Ray stood up and started making his way to the door. “See ya, Geoff,” he said with a slight wave and a “later” from Geoff. Gavin looked confused but Michael wasn’t surprised. Just a little hurt.

\------------------------------------------------------

Ray walked into his apartment feeling empty. He dropped his keys on the counter, set his bag down on the floor, and fell onto his couch. He didn’t want to do anything. He just wanted to disappear. He obviously couldn’t do _that,_ though, so he forced himself to play some Bioshock. After an hour of mindlessly playing, he turned off the Xbox. An awful feeling still sat in his stomach. He checked his phone and it was 4:48. _Michael’s been home for half an hour._ He’d memorized the time that Michael came home from countless times of going to his house after work. He sat there for five minutes, flipping his phone around in his hands and debating on texting him. After a final scan of his apartment for something he might want to do, he decided to call him instead. He knew that this way he couldn’t back out and he’d have to talk to Michael.

After an agonizing four rings, Michael picked up. “What’s up?”

Ray let out an audible sigh of relief. He’d planned to apologize to Michael, tell him that he didn’t mean it, tell him what he thought about Gavin…

“Can I come over?” he blurted out.

On the other line, Michael smiled. “Come on over.”

\------------------------------------------------------

Ray climbed the stairs to Michael’s apartment and knocked as soon as he reached his door. He really just wanted to see his best friend and get everything off of his chest. He didn’t want that heavy feeling to stay there and he knew that Michael was the only one that could fix it at this point.

Michael opened the door and smiled at the boy in front of him. “Hi,” Ray said simply. “Look…”

“Shut up,” Michael cut him off. “Just come in.” Ray smiled and followed him in.

Ray sat himself on the couch as Michael poured two glasses of water in the kitchen. “I’m really sorry,” he started. This time Michael let him continue. “I don’t know what’s been going on and it wasn’t fair to take it out on you. It’s cool that you asked about it. I guess I needed someone to.” Ray stared at his hands.

Michael set the glasses on the coffee table and sat next to him. Ray took a drink as Michael started to reply. “Don’t worry about it. I mean, I would’ve done the same thing. Uh, I think… I’m not sure; can’t really say I’ve been in that situation.” Ray laughed a little bit. “It was just kind of shocking. I thought you were… you know, straight.” He glanced at Ray and quickly added, “I mean, not that that matters – I don’t care either way. I’m just saying, I was stunned.”

Ray nodded. “Probably not as stunned as I am.” His smile faded. “I’m just so confused, Michael. Why do I even like him? His stupid noises, and his stupid vocabulary, and his stupid hair…” Michael laughed as Ray went on.

“And… and the way he looks at you. He’s never done that to me. I don’t know why that bothers me, but it does; it bothers me so fucking much that I can’t sit next to him all day and have him talk like that with me, and…” Ray felt he sounded a little selfish. “I just… I don’t know.” That was the only way Ray knew how to summarize it.

Michael was lost again. He thought more about how Gavin acted towards him. It slowly started to make sense. He looked down at his feet as he thought. “Wow,” he said. “I never actually noticed all of that.” He looked at Ray with apologetic eyes.

Ray nodded. “I figured.”

Michael thought about it some more. “You know, when people notice those kinds of things about a person…” he started, but Ray cut him off. “It’s not like I stare at the kid! It just… happens to stand out, is all.” Michael smirked.

“Ray, c’mon. I’m not calling you a creep or anything, but this seems pretty serious.”

Ray sighed and crossed his arms. “It’s not like it matters. In what realm of possibility would anything happen between me and Gavin?”

Michael shrugged with a sort of smile. Ray raised an eyebrow. “Why are you smiling?”

“No reason,” he dismissed quickly, still smiling. He picked up the remote. “Let’s watch some TV.”

Ray slowly nodded as he looked at Michael. “If you kill me and put my body parts in the freezer, I’m gonna be so pissed.”


	4. Right Here - Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "For you, Tuxedo Mask."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I decided to split it into two after I realized that the last sentence was a good cliffhanger. ;) Enjoy, and let me know what you think so far!

Ray left Michael’s apartment feeling much lighter, but something still loomed over him. That damn British boy; the root of all of this. If not for the relief he gained from his visit with Michael, he would have been bitter and angry. He was already kicking himself for falling for Gavin, and the fact that Gavin was brutally uninterested just worsened the blow. To his own disliking, Ray caught himself daydreaming more often than he would have liked to about Gavin. The more daydreams he had, the more he built upon them. It was almost like a story. Somehow, Gavin would fall deeply in love with Ray. After a few weeks of Gavin showing special interest in him, he would ask him on a date. They would go bowling because Gavin knows how bad of a bowler Ray is and would love teasing him about it. Then in return, they would watch some action movie that Gavin wasn’t interested in but sat through because he knew Ray loved them. Gavin would drive Ray home and walk him to his doorstep. Seemingly out of nowhere, Gavin would pull out a rose. _“For you, Tuxedo Mask.”_ They would both giggle at how cheesy and dumb it was. After a minute, their smiles would fade and Gavin would lean in for the kiss, returned by a less-than-hesitant Ray.

When they felt the timing was right, they would begin to tell their friends. Michael would be first, of course, because Ray couldn’t keep a secret. Not very well, at least. Everyone would be comfortable with it and would have seen it coming anyway. They’d steal kisses when no one was looking and would sometimes get caught. Then, eventually they would tell their parents. If all went as hoped, their families would ease into the idea and accept them for who they were. Then, when the timing was right…

“Shit!” Ray shouted as he almost T-boned a passing car and immediately put on the brakes. A few honks followed and some unkind words were thrown his way. He caught his breath as he cautiously continued down the street, continuing only a few blocks down until he reached his apartment building. He cursed himself for daydreaming again. _When I’m driving, really? Fucking Gavin, you’re going to kill me one way or another._

He trudged up the stairs to his apartment, still shaken from the near-accident. He watched every movement he made and eventually unlocked his door, entering and setting the keys in their usual spot. He glanced at his computer to check the time which read 9:37. His expression showed his confusion and he checked the time on his phone just to be sure. 9:38. “Wow,” he said aloud. He hadn’t realized how much time he’d spent at Michael’s. They had ended up getting into a My Little Pony marathon and playing a few games after they had a microwaved pizza. _Welp, I guess time flies when you’re fucking around,_ he thought to himself as he unzipped his hoodie on his way to the bedroom. He flipped off the lights, removed his jeans and crawled into bed. Normally he would have stayed up until the late hours of the morning but tonight, he was exhausted.  And he was even more exhausted knowing that the next six hours were going to be spent thinking about _him._

\------------------------------------------------------ —————————————--

Ray woke up groggier than he had ever felt in his life. “Fuuuuck…” he groaned as he mustered the strength to sit up. Every muscle in his body was sore and he felt like there was a lead weight in his skull. He rubbed his eyes before placing his glasses in front of them. The time on his alarm clock read 4:45. This was about half an hour before he would usually start getting ready for the day. He threw the blankets off of him and stood. “God damn it,” he muttered as he felt the true extent to which his body hurt. He did his usual morning routine, allowing his time in the shower to be extended for the hot water to soothe his aching muscles. After he was all dressed and ready, he fished through his drawers to find anything that might alleviate his pain. He found some Tylenol and swallowed two, emptying some into his pocket for later. Why the hell was so sore? He took a seat at his computer desk and replied to a few tweets before resorting to Google. “ _waking up sore for no reason_ ,” he typed into the search bar. Ray clicked on an article titled “Sleep – Why It’s Hurting You.” He scrolled down until he found something that seemed relevant.

**__ **

**_ Clenching and Tension – _ ** _ The primary way that anxiety causes sore muscles is that it leads to significant muscle tension. During periods of anxiety, your body prepares for fight or flight mode as though you're in a dangerous situation. When doing so, it tenses your muscles for rapid action. Over time, that tension and clenching can lead to knots and muscle aches that may become very painful if left untreated. _

“Whatever,” he muttered before gathering his things for work, not wanting to consider that stress may be a factor. He remembered to check the time and it was 5:30. Considering the Rooster Teeth office was a short distance from his apartment, that meant that he would be over twenty minutes earlier than usual. He sighed and grabbed his keys as he left to go to work.

\------------------------------------------------------—————————————--

After unlocking the building, Ray grabbed a bagel and situated himself at his desk. He took a moment to look around. _Hmm._ He looked out the window, the sun only just beginning to rise. _I kinda like this._ The quiet made him feel serene and he started his day by watching some Youtube videos. Within half an hour, Michael poked his head into the office. “Hey, Ray,” he greeted with a smile. Ray smiled back.

Michael powered up his computer and opened programs with a sort of rush. Ray looked at him quizzically. “Dude. Calm down,” he said, chuckling a bit.

“What?” Michael replied, caught off-guard. “Oh – yeah, sorry, I’m just, uh… Just wanna get some work done early,” he stuttered before shooting Ray a quick smile and returning to focus on his monitor. Ray raised an eyebrow but didn’t push him further. _You’re plotting something,_ he wanted to say aloud, knowing Michael all too well. However, he refrained because most of the things that Michael had plotted in the past turned out to be hilarious and golden. _I will allow it,_ he added to the previous thought in his head.

The day seemed to drag on in Ray’s perspective. That was obviously due to his sore body, occasional unrequested daydream, and the earlier time that he had gotten up. He didn’t say much, but this time it wasn’t because he was upset. He was just in a lot of pain and his mind was a bit cloudy. He _may_ have been upset at Gavin’s usual focused attention towards Michael, but he was too distracted with his own state to notice anything outside of him. He was also too distracted to notice that Michael had been pushing Gavin away a bit. He would’ve thought that was awesome. But his back _really_ hurt, and he was busy counting the Tylenol left in his pocket.

About an hour before lunch time, he had swallowed enough Tylenol to be able to focus on some things besides his body. He began to notice the resistance that Michael was giving to Gavin and he smiled a bit. He admired Michael’s perseverance and made sure that he’d thank him later. Gavin didn’t really seem to mind, but then again, he never did. Every now and then Ray would find himself staring sideways at the Brit, continuing the story in his head, but he would awkwardly refocus himself as he snapped out of it.

As the group finished some side conversations they were having, they all began to prepare for their lunch break. Jack, Ryan, and Geoff agreed to go out for lunch leaving the other three boys to eat at the office for Ray was too tired, Gavin didn’t want to spend any money, and Michael wanted to get something done. Ray rubbed his neck with a pained expression as he made his way to the kitchen. He decided to wait for Michael before getting something to eat because he still wanted to thank him. A few minutes passed, and twelve minutes later neither Michael nor Gavin had shown up and Ray was confused. And hungry.

He finally decided he would just eat something real quick and then see what Michael was up to. He stood up to walk to the fridge and then Michael opened the door, slightly out of breath. Ray didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried. He started to question him. “Umm, what’s with—”

Michael cut him off before he could say anything else. “Hey!” he said, trying to be nonchalant but still panting a little. Ray held his mouth open with confusion so Michael decided to talk again before he could continue. “I,  uhh… had to help move some stuff up the stairs. Then I ran down here ‘cause I needed help with something. Man, am I out of shape,” he added with an awkward laugh.

Ray went with it and nodded. “So, you need help?”

Michael nodded quickly. “Yeah! Can you come upstairs? I need to look for something but I can’t find it, I figured maybe you could help.” He slowly caught his own breath.

Ray agreed and followed Michael up the few flights to the top floor. “What are we looking for?” he asked innocently.

“Oh, uhh, some stock paper. They said it was in the closet,” he said, gesturing toward the supply closet next to them, “but I can’t find it anywhere. Could you give it a look?” Michael looked at him expectantly, making it seem a lot more important than it was.

Ray laughed a bit. “Yeah, sure. _I’m_ supposed to be the blind one, though,” he joked, pointing to his glasses.

Michael laughed in response and held the door open for Ray. As Ray stepped in, he quickly slammed it behind him.

“Hey! What the—” he began, but let out a startled noise as he felt breath against his skin.


	5. Right Here - Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His body hurt and everything in him was yearning to just disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve successfully managed to give myself feels with this chapter. Interpret this as you will.

Ray jumped out of his skin and tried to focus his vision in the dark enough to see who was next to him. There was no need, though, because a short moment later a British voice filled the tight closet space. “Hey, Ray! Are you looking for stock paper too?!”

“Fucking _christ_ , Gavin! You scared the shit out of me!” Ray shouted as he could finally make out Gavin’s face. “What do you think you’re doing looking for paper _in the dark_ anyway?” Gavin shrugged and laughed a bit. “I guess I didn’t really question it.”

Ray then noticed Michael giggling outside of the door. “What the _hell_ are you doing, Michael?” he shouted, overwhelmed and confused.

Michael’s laughing subsided. “Sorry to do this, but you guys need to talk. I’m not letting you out until you’ve cleared everything up.” Michael sank against the wall to a sitting position and pulled out his phone, knowing he’d be there for a while. “Go.”

Ray huffed with anger. “We have to get back to work soon, Michael!” He jiggled the doorknob below him but it was locked.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Michael replied with a shrug that the two couldn’t see. “I think I already told Geoff that all of us were going to be late because we were helping upstairs. Oops.”

Ray rolled his eyes. “You’re a dick.” Gavin just stood there, awkwardly biting his lower lip. The two were nearly pressed against each other from the confined space. This is the last thing Ray wanted. Well, it could be argued that it was _exactly_ what he wanted, but he didn’t approve of the circumstances. Ray looked down to the strip of light underneath the door and frowned. Gavin finally spoke up. “So you’re just going to sit there listening to us while we talk about god knows what?”

Michael sighed. “Wow, Gavin, it’s like you’re a fucking detective.” Gavin furrowed his eyebrows.

As Gavin tried to shift a bit to get a more comfortable position, their midriffs brushed against each other. Ray immediately blushed but Gavin couldn’t notice from the lack of light. He tried to back up but couldn’t so he just stood there as the boy that had been occupying his thoughts for countless hours looked back at him. There they were, standing, forced to look each other in the eye and make Ray’s nightmare come true.

Ray looked down at his feet before looking up again and making eye contact with the boy. “Fuck it,” he muttered. “What’s been up with you lately?” He didn’t care that Michael was listening or they were in a closet or Gavin would probably end up finding out the truth. He figured that he didn’t have anything to lose at his point and he didn’t want to beat around the bush.

Gavin gave a few confused blinks like he did when he was caught off-guard. It was one of the many things that Ray had unconsciously noticed. Ray kept a straight face and continued to look him straight in the eye. Gavin stuttered for a moment. “W-What? What have _I_ done?”

Ray looked offended. “What do you mean what have _you_ done? You pour over Michael like he’s a fucking God. Not only that, but you have blatantly been ignoring me for no obvious reason. What the hell did I do to you, Gavin? What happened to us?” He bit his lip as he started to become emotional but he hid it well.

Gavin looked at his feet shyly. “I don’t…” he started, but Ray cut him off.

“The hell you don’t.” His tone was quieter than before. “I really just want to know what I did. I think that’s fair, don’t you?” He kept staring at the Brit.

Gavin’s tone became louder in contrast. “Ray, **I don’t know**.” Ray drew back in surprise, and Michael cringed outside the door.

He continued. “What the hell do you want me to say? I haven’t damn meant to ignore anyone! Michael just happened to be there when I was going through something.” He tried to indicate Michael by pointing at the door but couldn’t hold his arm out very far so he pointed at the floor. “Why didn’t you just come up and bloody tell me instead of acting like a little kicked puppy?!”

Ray stared at him as he processed what had just come out of Gavin’s mouth. An uncomfortable nauseous feeling overcame him and he felt the pain in his muscles begin to flare up again. He considered retaliating in a fashion just as angry as Gavin’s, but he decided not to. “I’m… I didn’t know.” He bit the inside of his cheek.

Gavin’s face softened but still showed a trace of hurt. “Yeah.” He sighed. After a moment of awkward silence, he continued. “But… what I don’t understand is, why?”

Ray looked confused. “Why what?”

“Why is it such a big deal that I’ve been acting like that?” Gavin stared at him for a response.

Ray cleared his throat and glanced to the side before returning Gavin’s eye contact. He tried to play it off. “Well, why wouldn’t it be?”

A few guys on their way to a room upstairs glanced at Michael. Michael smiled and waved at them before returning to his phone, not paying attention to their exchanged glances amongst one another.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “No,” he shook his head. “No, you’re not telling me something. It isn’t normal to react this way to such an insignificant change.”

Ray was puzzled. Gavin actually sounded really smart with that last sentence. Ray’s neck seemed to almost throb with pain and he flew a hand up to rub it. Gavin continued to stare at him and his eyes felt like daggers in his already aching chest. His body hurt and everything in him was yearning to just disappear.

Gavin took notice to Ray’s body language and reached out to put a hand on Ray’s shoulder to comfort him. Ray’s heart pounded in his chest faster and faster as Gavin’s hand lightly pressed against Ray’s T-shirt. The beating became audible and Gavin looked at Ray. Ray looked back with a pained expression and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Gavin’s hand dropped from Ray’s shoulder, his fingers dragging across his chest in the slightest way but still managing to prompt instant goosebumps on Ray’s skin. Ray’s eyes followed the boy’s hand until the very last moment when it rested back at his side. He looked back up at Gavin to find an incredulous expression painted on his face.

Ray’s heart sank. He blew it. Gavin had obviously noticed his awkward behavior and now he would want nothing to do with him. He stared at his feet, bracing himself for the worst as Gavin parted his lips to speak.

_ “You… you’re not…” _


	6. Right Here - Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Now find the place where they keep the Swiffer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was probably my favorite to write so far. I really hope you like it! Let me know what you think. :)

All of the words they had previously exchanged hung in the air, making it thick and hard to breathe. Ray swallowed a lump in his throat as Gavin stared through him. He felt like he was holographic, like Gavin’s eyes had access to any thought or emotion that Ray had in store. His heart rate increased and he began to sweat. He tried to clear his throat but he still felt like the air around him was running out. “M-Michael,” he panted. “Let me the  _fuck_ out of here…”

Michael could hear the desperation in Ray’s voice and jumped up to unlock the door. Ray bust out of the closet as soon as it peeked open. Michael tried to ask him if he was okay but he was already down another hallway by the time he’d finished his question. Gavin was frozen in place, still staring at the area where the black-haired boy had previously stood. Michael spun around. “What the hell happened in there?!” Gavin just shook his head and continued not to move, proving to Michael that he would be no help, so Michael just glared at him before going to find Ray.

Ray had managed to stumble far enough to find a bathroom and he ducked inside of it. He locked the door and grasped either side of the sink firmly with his hands, trying to gain his composure. His vision was still quite fuzzy, not only from whatever had just happened, but also from the sudden light contrast from the closet. He shut his eyes hard and took deep breaths, trying to fill his mind with everything but Gavin.

By this time, Michael had found the room. He lightly knocked. “Ray? You in there?”

Ray gripped the sink even harder. He hesitated a moment. “Yeah,” he muttered quietly.

Michael looked at the door handle for a moment before breaking the silence. “Can… can I come in?”

In all honesty, Ray didn’t want to let him in. He wasn’t mad at him and he didn’t care about what he had accidentally done. Ray just wanted to vanish. This had all been too much at once. He couldn’t just leave the kid out there, though, so he decided to give in and pulled the handle down to unlock it. Michael took the cue and stepped inside.

He held a worried expression as he looked at Ray and planted his hands in his pockets. “Are you alright?”

Ray took a final deep breath before replying. He swallowed. “I’m fine. Just had a moment. Ionno.” But all of a sudden, the wave of nausea came back and hit him hard to contradict his statement. He pushed past Michael and vomited into the toilet, taking the boy by surprise. Michael rushed to kneel down next to him and lightly patted his back as Ray threw up clear liquid.

Ray finally stopped, flushed, and sat back on his heels. Michael surveyed his face, trying to figure out what to do. After a moment, he removed his hand from Ray’s back and looked him in the eye. “This isn’t okay.”

Ray just nodded in defeat. After a few more minutes, they got off of the bathroom floor and slowly made their way back to the office.

Michael led the way into the room and they were greeted by the rest, except Gavin who stared at his computer screen. Ray sank into his chair and did his work, empty-stomached and light-headed. At one point in the day, Michael threw a mini bag of chips at his head. He half-smiled in response and slowly ate them. The end of the day rolled around and Gavin left in a rush. Ray decided to leave after seeing Gavin’s car pull out and receiving a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder from Michael.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Ray drove home in silence and rain pelted his windshield, doing its part in drowning out his thoughts. Step by step, he made his way up the stairs. He entered the apartment and set his stuff down gently. He sat down at his computer and opened Twitter to find some comfort from his fans. He scrolled down a few tweets and read one sent to him from earlier in the day. _“Ray! Where have X-Ray and Vav been lately?? Missing them :)”_

He groaned aloud and almost got up to do something else, but he stay put. He decided to reply. _“Not sure. I’ll let you know when I find ‘em”_

He stared at the screen for a few lasting moments then made his way to the couch and laid his head against the arm. He realized he hadn’t even bothered to turn on any lights, but he didn’t have the motivation to get up anymore. His phone vibrated and he felt his heart leap into his throat. He pulled it out quickly and checked the screen.

It actually _was_ a text from Gavin. _“Hey.”_ Ray sat up. _He never texts me. He never texts anyone. Why would he do it now? He probably feels bad. Or maybe he wants to tell me off. Or maybe he feels the same…_ Ray cut off his own thoughts and unlocked the text.

Their last conversation showed a few exchanged texts from about a month ago of Gavin saying, _“Wish you were here to get beved up!”_ accompanied by a picture of him, Barbara, and Burnie at a party from when they went to PAX, all making a weird face and holding some sort of alcoholic beverage. Ray had replied, _“Same, but I don’t drink. Dumbass.”_

Possibilities of what to respond with ran through his head, but after three minutes, he settled on _“Hey”._ He figured it wasn’t pushing it, and it wasn’t holding back too much. It was the perfect reply.

The text from Gavin had woken him up a little bit, and he decided to microwave some soup, considering the whole _incident_ had replaced his lunch break. He poured some chicken noodle soup into a bowl and set it in the microwave for two minutes and forty-five seconds. He hesitated before going back to check his phone. He pressed the home button, but there were no alerts. He opened the conversation just to make sure, but there were no new texts. Ray’s _“Hey”_ remained lingering by itself.

He brushed it off and decided to wait a little longer. After his soup was done, he removed it and set it on the counter to let it cool down. He checked his phone again. No word from Gavin. He furrowed his eyebrows for a second. _“Get my text?”_ he sent, just to be sure.

He turned on the TV with the remote just to have some background noise. He ate his soup, glancing at whatever show was on now and then. When he finished, he rinsed the bowl and placed it in the dishwasher. He checked his phone again, anxious for a reply. There was nothing.

Ray stared at the screen a little longer, as if that would make a new text suddenly appear. There was still nothing. He sighed heavily before typing another text. _“Gav. You getting this? Did you want to talk or?”_

His thumb lingered above the keyboard for a few more moments as he wanted to type more. _Are you busy or something? It’s okay if you are. Just confused by the single text. I think we should talk actually. Clear things up?_

He settled for his original two questions and tapped “send”. He still didn’t feel right. He was really hoping he could finally talk to Gavin without the fear of getting sick or being ridiculed. But here he was, just as embarrassed of himself as he had been before. He stuffed the phone into his pocket and made his way to his room, sprawling out over the unmade covers of the bed and staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes before finally deciding that Gavin wasn’t going to respond. He let himself drift to sleep at 4:35 PM.

_ Killing me one way or another. _

—————————————————————————————————————————

Ray slept straight up until his alarm went off. He attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes and remembered that he was still wearing his clothes from the day before. His body still ached, but not as terribly as yesterday. He checked his phone and there were four texts and a missed call, all from Michael. He sighed.

_ Hey man, I’m sorry about today. I was just trying to help _

_ Is everything ok? Just wanna check up on you _

_ Fucking reply Ray, you better not be dead _

_ I’m fucking sorry _

He replied with a text that forgave him and explained his falling asleep early, then went through his usual morning routine and went to work, not knowing what to expect.

Ray arrived at the building and grabbed a cup of coffee before settling down at his desk. He had to glance twice to notice a pink post-it note that stuck to his keyboard. On it was a quickly-sketched rose. He chuckled. _Who did this?_

He assumed it was Michael. And it obviously wasn’t Gavin, because, well… The obvious. That, and he had left earlier than Ray the day before. He flipped it over real quick just to see if there was anything there, and there was. A little note was scribbled in black sharpie.

**_ If you think food really rocks, you would look in the big cold box _ **

Ray raised an eyebrow at the weak attempt at a riddle. He looked around and peeked his head outside of the office. No one was there, and the lights hadn’t been on before Ray turned them on as he arrived. He looked at the note in his hand again. _Well… why not._

He padded to the kitchen and looked at the refrigerator. There was nothing on it. He looked around him once more and pulled the door of it open. He scanned for a moment before spotting another neon pink post-it.

He grabbed it. There was another sketched rose. He turned it over and read the back.

**_ Good job on not taking a miss. Now go to the place where you’d find Chris _ **

He rolled his eyes at the lack of effort, but found himself walking to Chris’ workspace nonetheless. As he walked up the stairs, he did another scan of the building, just to make sure he wasn’t going to get murdered or anything. He trudged into the room and flicked on the lights. He looked towards Chris’ desk and, surely enough, there was a pink note on his monitor.

He walked up to it and took it, immediately flipping it over because he was now very involved with this little scavenger hunt.

**_ Very well, I knew you’d get that. But can you find what’s in Michael’s hat? _ **

Ray frowned. _In Michael’s hat?_ He wandered back to the only place where he thought Michael might keep any hats; in their office. That still seemed unlikely, though, because Michael never really took off his beanies when he wore them. Plus, he’d be pissed if anyone took a beanie of his. Regardless, Ray searched the office quite thoroughly for any type of hat, but couldn’t find anything. He sighed and became a little sad. What if he couldn’t solve the riddle? He stared down at the stupid notes in his hands. Then Michael walked through the opened door and greeted him. “Hey Ray,” he smiled. “Sorry ‘bout last night. What’s that?” he asked, looking at the post-its in Ray’s hands.

Ray looked up at him. “Ohh, uh… Well, I’ve been finding these around the office.” He held them up to show the roses. “You do this?”

Michael looked confused and shook his head. “What are they?”

Ray quickly explained and showed him some of the riddles. Michael laughed in return. “I think Slender’s out to get you.” Ray laughed back and looked at the one about Michael’s hat again. An idea suddenly struck him.

“Uhh, this is gonna sound weird, but… Give me your hat.”

Michael responded with an offended look. “What do you want my hat for?”

Ray looked at him for a moment and snatched his beanie from his head, leaving his curls exposed. Michael let out a sound of dismay and reached to grab it back but couldn’t in time.

Ray held him at bay with one hand and looked inside of his hat with the other. There it was. A pink note.

Michael sighed with frustration. “Give me my hat, you douche!”

Ray turned the beanie so Michael could see the note inside of it. Michael looked at it wide-eyed. “What the fuck? How did that get there?” he said as he took his hat out of Ray’s grasp.

Ray removed the note and scanned the back.

**_ Well, you couldn’t have found that any quicker. Now find the place where they keep the Swiffer. _ **

Ray giggled for a moment at the loose rhyme and then thought. _The Swiffer?_ He was about to ask Michael, but then he remembered yesterday. One of the many things that was jamming into his back in that closet was the Swiffer. He took a moment to compliment himself on finding it out so quickly and then ran out the door and started up the stairs. “Good luck, Ray,” Michael shouted behind him.

As he finished ascending the last flight, he hesitated. How long was this going to go, and what was he even going to find? He bit his lip before walking up to the closet door; the same one he’d had a panic attack in just yesterday. Was this closet actually significant or was it just one of the many stops of this little game? He braced himself and swung the door open.

There stood a skinny little British boy, hands stuffed into the pockets of his skinny jeans and hair a usual mess. He smiled softly as Ray came into his view. A little neon-pink post-it rested on his chest in contrast to his black T-shirt, showing the final little sketched rose. He licked his lips before speaking.

“Sorry for being such a pleb.”


	7. Right Here - Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We’ll get around to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up to write this interesting little chapter. ;3 Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Before Ray could respond, Gavin removed the post-it from his chest and lightly placed it onto Ray’s forehead. Ray laughed before grabbing it and he flipped it over. It was blank. He looked back up into Gavin’s eyes. “What, no riddle?” he asked, grin still set in place.

Gavin smiled. “Well I didn’t have any damn time, what with you waking up before the sun does.” Ray chuckled in response. He never really thought about it that way. He liked that analogy, actually.

He held up the notes he still had placed between his fingers. “So what’s this about?”

Gavin sighed as if it was a lot to explain. “Well, it was difficult. I had to wake up _early as hell_ to get here before you. First thing I had to do was raid Jack’s desk to find a stack of post-its. He didn’t have any red, though, so I had to settle for pink. I thought the riddles alone would be too boring so I gave them all a common theme. Considering you’re X-Ray, I drew roses.” Hearing Gavin call him X-Ray gave him the chills for some reason. Gavin continued. “I didn’t have time to color them in with anything because you get here at bloody six in the morning and it would’ve taken forever to find colored pencils or something. Anyway, the riddles were easy – I’m sure you noticed,” he added, shooting an apologetic smile at Ray. Ray smiled back and nodded. “I had to make _one_ difficult, though, and I knew this ahead of time so yesterday I waited until I had a chance to get to Michael’s hat. He ended up taking it off when he was trying on some new headphones so I took the opportunity to stick the note in there. The git didn’t notice.” Gavin laughed at Michael’s absent-mindedness and so did Ray, who was still listening intently.

“That’s the only one I did ahead of time, though. The rest I did this morning. By the time I was at Chris’ desk I heard you come in, so I had to finish that one and run here. Then I waited, and you showed up.” Gavin gave a cheeky grin as he finished his story.

Ray couldn’t stop smiling, either. He thought Gavin’s story was probably the most adorable thing he had ever heard. “As complicated as that was, you still didn’t answer my question.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Gavin hesitated. “I really – Michael!” he shouted as he spotted the boy eavesdropping from down the stairs. Michael giggled and ran off, eating a granola bar as he went. Ray rolled his eyes.

Gavin cleared his throat. “But yeah, I really… wanted to apologize.” Ray noticed that he was fidgeting with his hands. “I was going to last night, but I didn’t want to do it over text. Didn’t feel right.” Ray gave a nod of understanding and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We’re cool.”

Gavin smiled for a moment. He checked to make sure Michael wasn’t listening again before he spoke. “Yeah, see, I wanted to make it up to you.”

“Hey, thanks,” he responded before adding, “but I think we… I think we have to talk first.” Ray didn’t want to _talk_ about what he was obviously referencing, but he didn’t feel it was fair for Gavin to be so generous if he didn’t know the truth. Maybe he _did_ know the truth, and Ray was surely convinced that he did when they were in the closet, but now Gavin was acting like they were normal friends again. Is that something Gavin could really have gotten past already?

Gavin shook his head, prompting a look of confusion from Ray. “Let’s grab dinner tonight. I owe it to you. We can talk about it then, or whatever. Yeah?” He looked at Ray, seeking an answer.

Ray bit his lip. He didn’t want to be weird by pushing it, but he still didn’t understand why they couldn’t just clear the air now. He brushed it off. If Gavin wanted to have dinner with him, there was no way he could say no. Besides, he truly did want to avoid the subject anyway. He figured he could just work it into conversation later. Until then, it’d just sit with him, making him wonder what Gavin’s response would be. “Yeah,” he replied quietly, giving a small smile.

“Good! We might as well leave after work. I’ll drive.” Gavin smiled the smile that Ray liked to call the _why-are-you-doing-this-to-me-you-British-fuck_ smile. Ray just nodded.

Michael stared at them as they entered the office and looked for any signs of weird behavior. He couldn’t find any, though, unless you counted their lack of discomfort as weird. Which it was, considering the past few days. They proceeded to sit down and start their work quietly, little smiles still painted on their faces. Michael shot them confused glances before starting work of his own.

Ray absolutely loved that day at work. Things were back to normal. Well, they weren’t _exactly_ normal, because Ray’s heart was fluttering the entire time and he couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Other than that, everything was smooth. He recorded the scheduled achievement guide with Gavin and their X-Ray and Vav persona shone through brighter than ever. They played off of each other’s words and produced what would be a great video.

The end of the day came sooner than Ray expected it would. He tried to hide his excitement as he packed his things up and watched Gavin as he did the same. He waited awkwardly for a moment before making eye contact with the boy and receiving a reassuring smile. Gavin gestured out the door to Ray, indicating that they were leaving. “See you guys,” he said as he left the room. Ray waved a goodbye aswell, noticing at last second Michael’s hip thrusting in reference to the two leaving together. Ray rolled his eyes and walked quickly to catch up with Gavin.

They reached Gavin’s car and he climbed into the passenger seat. His heart raced as he buckled his seatbelt and Gavin took his seat next to him. He turned on the ignition. “Where to?”

Ray side-smiled. “This was _your_ idea.”

Gavin sighed. “Fine. Stubborn…” He smiled regardless and pulled out of the lot and into the road.

After a few minutes of Ray blasting “Call Me Maybe” and Gavin groaning with dismay, they had arrived. It was a fairly large restaurant that seemed classy, but not so much that you felt the need to wear a suit and light candles. Their sign glowed above the building in a blue light. Ray could tell that it showed the name of the restaurant, but he couldn’t make out the letters. He pointed to the roof where it glowed. “What’s that say?”

Gavin shrugged. “Who cares? Their food is top.” Ray grinned at the boy’s vocabulary and followed him inside.

After being sat at a table, they scanned the menus. Gavin hummed as he flipped through the pages. Ray glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Are you even looking?”

Gavin continued to flip through. “I’m looking for something that stands out!”

Ray shook his head and returned to his own menu. “ _You_ stand out, dork.” He didn’t look up to see the grin on Gavin’s face in response.

Ray ended up ordering a simple cheeseburger and Gavin ordered some complicated, hard-to-pronounce pasta dish. Ray continued to mock him for this, but he didn’t mind. He embraced it.

Throughout their meal, they discussed stupid things such as viral videos they had seen recently and the logistics of the deaths depicted in 1000 Ways to Die, and they also discussed sentimental things, such as their fans and their fellow coworkers. As Ray finished his burger, Gavin was still picking at his food. Ray noticed that he was a slow eater and mentally stored that piece of information for later. He watched Gavin and then remembered that he was going to try and work in that _talk_ during their dinner. Considering Ray had already finished and Gavin was getting full, he hadn’t done a great job so far.

He decided he had to go for it. He cleared his throat quietly but enough to get Gavin’s attention. “So, um. About that talk…?”

Gavin shook his head and swallowed the food in his mouth. He took a sip of water. “Let’s not just yet.”

Ray was getting a little frustrated. It took a lot of confidence for him to even bring it up, and Gavin just kept pushing it away. “Well, _when?_ ”

Gavin locked eyes with him. “Don’t worry about it, Ray. We have all night. We’ll get around to it.” He gave that reassuring smile of his.

That was enough to put Ray at ease, but he was still tense about it. “So where are we going, then? I thought we were just getting dinner.” Ray tried not to sound disappointed because he was actually really thankful to spend more time with Gavin. He didn’t care where they went, as long as Gavin was okay with it.

“Let’s go to your place! I still haven’t been there yet,” he added with a pouty expression.

Ray was caught off-guard by the strange request, but he was okay with it. Gavin _hadn’t_ been there, because the only person Ray ever invited was Michael. His apartment was pretty small and he figured that people wouldn’t be that interested in it. Apparently Gavin was, though. And whatever that kid wanted, he would get. Ray shrugged. “Alright.”

They split the bill and started to Ray’s apartment. Ray did his best to give directions, but Gavin still managed to get lost twice. After much laughter and correction, they finally made it to his building. Ray raised his eyebrows and exited the car, leading the way to his apartment. Gavin followed closely behind and admired every aspect of the building aloud as if he’d never seen one before. Ray returned his observations with a laugh and a “shut the fuck up.”

Ray unlocked the door and swung it open, letting Gavin enter first. “Here we are, the casa de Ray… or some shit.”

Gavin giggled. “You really _are_ Latino.” Ray set down his stuff next to Gavin’s.

Gavin spun around and looked at him with challenging eyes. “ _Halo 4?_ ”

Ray stared back with a competitive expression of his own. “You got it.”

They started up the game and played for an hour and a half, laughing hysterically and only stopping now and then for a bathroom break or to get some water. After Ray defeated the Brit a final time, Gavin huffed and tossed the controller at him from where they sat cross-legged on the floor, hitting him in the thigh. Ray laughed before pushing him over onto his side, resulting in more laughter and squeals from Gavin.

He closed the game, knowing that that was Gavin’s way of saying he didn’t want to play anymore. He glanced at the time. It was 8:50. _Damn,_ he thought, and then remembered again about _the talk._

Ray watched as the boy tried to get up, who instead settled for propping himself up on his elbows. He fiddled with the controller in his hand and waited until Gavin looked at him. “Gavin,” he spoke, the word resonating in the quiet apartment but hanging in the air softly.

Gavin’s expression faded and he slowly sat up. He reached out and placed his hand on Ray’s shoulder just as he had done in the closet, except this time, he didn’t pull away. Gavin watched his own hand as each of his fingers extended to make more contact with the fabric of Ray’s shirt. The slight movements gave Ray goosebumps. His fingers stopped as they found comfortable places to rest. He tore his gaze from Ray’s shoulder to look into his eyes.

He was quiet as he spoke, almost down to a whisper.

_ “Do we have to, Ray?” _


	8. Right Here - Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At once, they both understood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one! I tried to put a lot of emotion into it, as you’ll probably be able to tell… Enjoy and let me know what you think of it! :)

Silence filled the air for several more moments before Ray dared to speak. He tried to control his breathing. He could only think of one thing to say, because it was the only thing that was crossing his mind.

“ _What are you doing?_ ”

Ray couldn’t handle this anymore. Why was Gavin dragging him through this? He felt so much closer to Gavin in that exact moment than he had at any other point in their friendship, but he never felt more far away. It’s like Gavin didn’t want to acknowledge that Ray was anything more than a friendly coworker, that their relationship could be anything more than it was. Ray had already come to terms with the fact that the chances of him being with Gavin were almost nonexistent, but he _needed_ to tell him how he felt. It was eating away at him, physically and mentally, and he didn’t want to endure this anymore. He was suffocating with everything that he forced himself to hold back. Whatever Gavin was doing… Ray couldn’t go along with it. Not until he cleared the air.

Gavin ignored Ray’s question. He removed his hand from the boy’s shoulder and placed it back on the ground to prop himself up as he raised the other one. His right hand drifted toward Ray’s leg. It hovered for a moment, then rested on the inside of his upper thigh. Ray was panicked now. What _was_ he doing? The warm touch of the Brit’s hand fogged his head even more but he fought to form the words in his mouth. “G-Gavin! What the hell?”

Ray reached down and grabbed Gavin’s hand, moving it off of him. Gavin looked offended. “What is wrong with you?” His words continued to flow in their usual manner even though they were showing a trace of anger.

Ray furrowed his eyebrows. “Wrong with _me_?! What has gotten into you? A few days ago you would have nothing to do with me! And now you’re…”  Ray glanced down to where Gavin’s hand had previously been. “I-I don’t know! What _are_ you doing?!”

Gavin stopped leaning on his arms and sat up. “I don’t know what your bloody _problem_ is, but I thought you wanted this!” Gavin’s expression was quickly turning angrier and it almost scared Ray.

Ray nervously cleared his throat. He was really intimidated by this side of Gavin. “Why… why would you think that?”

The brown-haired boy huffed angrily. “I’m not _stupid,_ Ray!” He stood up quickly and started to pace Ray’s living room. “It’s so bloody obvious! Now you just change your mind for the hell of it? Who do you think you are?!”

Ray couldn’t handle Gavin’s tall stature towering above him, belittling him, and now shouting probably loud enough for the neighbors to hear. He tried not to cringe. He got up, himself.

“I _don’t_ want that, Gavin! I-I mean…” Ray’s hands fidgeted with the pockets of his shorts. “I just needed to talk to you! All you did was push me away! I needed to fucking tell you something,” Ray shouted back desperately, trying to get Gavin to comprehend what he was saying.

At this point, they both knew what Ray wanted to say. Gavin would not dare let him say it aloud. He didn’t want to face the fact that _Ray liked him._ And even worse, he didn’t ever want to admit that he might even like him back. Gavin wasn’t like that. He didn’t like guys. Especially not ones he was friends with, worked with, and had to see every day. This wasn’t okay; he knew that, and he would never admit any feelings he may have had towards Ray. He shut himself off. However, he figured that if he did anything _but_ admit his feelings, that it would all be okay. He could hang out with Ray, joke with him, hug him, touch him, anything… As long as it was never discussed. In his mind, everything was justified. In Ray’s, it wasn’t.

Ray wanted something that was _real_. He didn’t want to be swept under the rug. He wanted to be accepted and displayed proudly, no matter what anyone thought. If someone were to be with him, they should love him and make sacrifices. He didn’t want to be used for a quick fix of physical desire just because Gavin was ashamed. Ashamed of himself, or ashamed of Ray? Either way, Ray felt disgusting. He felt like all of this was just a little side project and it was for sure going to disappear by morning. And if Ray were to wake up another morning having gone through this, there wasn’t just going to be an ache. To be honest, Ray didn’t know what might happen. He couldn’t trust himself anymore, though, and he didn’t want to end up doing something that he would regret. He knew that if he were to cave in to Gavin, he couldn’t turn back. He would be even emptier than he already was.

All of these feelings were silently communicated as almost a minute passed of the two just looking at each other. At once, they both understood. Gavin threw his hands up at his sides.

“Tell me **what** , Ray?” He stared blankly at the boy in front of him.

Ray looked back at him but averted his eyes to the floor after a few seconds. He bit the inside of his cheek, hard. He tried, but he just couldn’t. He couldn’t say it. Not now.

Gavin’s hands dropped back down to his sides. “Yeah. Knew it.” His voice was quiet.

He silently gathered his things and made his way to the door. Ray remained standing lifeless in the living room, watching Gavin as he moved. He turned around and looked Ray in the eye for a solid few seconds before speaking.

“You fucking coward,” he muttered.

And with that, he spun on his heel and left. The door slammed behind him, and Ray still stood there, speechless. He could feel himself choking on his own words. The silence surrounded his body and it was even worse when Ray could hear Gavin’s footsteps leaving him. His car started, and it pulled away. And Ray still stood there.

After a few minutes, he ended up treading to his bedroom. He removed his shorts and sat on his bed. Before he could think about it, he picked up his phone to text Michael.

_ Cant cometo work tomorrow Sick. _

He laid still under his covers, feeling the weight of the air on top of him. It seemed to crush his chest, but he wouldn’t have been able to notice anyway. He was numb. He stared, eyes fixated on the ceiling, until he was physically unable to keep them open anymore. He slowly drifted off and tried to fill his mind with nothing, but one thought refused to subside.

_ What is wrong with you? _


	9. Right Here - Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "X-Ray and Vav, right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while, I’m sorry! I hope it’s worth the wait, though. Enjoy. :)

Bright light spilled through the curtains and bathed Ray’s body as if it were healing him. The heat put a light gleam upon his sleeping face. Outside, the city below lazily buzzed along and the trees on the sidewalks swayed. The only audible noise that could be heard inside of the apartment was the hum of a television playing in the neighbor’s place above his. His forehead tried to sweat out what felt to him like a fever. His eyelids twitched every now and then as the curtains allowed the sun to make contact with them. Despite this, he laid, motionless. At first glance, one might have said he looked peaceful.

The lulling sound of the neighbor’s television was brutally interrupted as someone knocked hard on the front door. Ray’s eyes shot open and immediately absorbed the light around him, making him wince. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He checked the clock and it was just past six in the morning. He coughed and the loud noise hurt his head. He took a deep breath and tried to hold on to his morning haze, as long as it would prevent him from thinking about Gavin.

Ray had forgotten about the knocking within the few minutes of his waking up. It came back, though, louder this time. He groaned and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He put his glasses on and padded over to his dresser to pull on some sweatpants. Eventually, he made it to the front door. He yawned and opened it. Before him stood a smiley Michael. Ray smiled back weakly and blinked some sleep out of his eyes. He cleared his throat. “What’s up?”

Michael breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey!” He held up a white paper bag. “Can I come in?”

Ray nodded and stepped aside to let him in. Michael made his way to the counter and set the bag down before turning to Ray. He held his hands in pockets. “Ray, are you okay?” he asked, not nervous but concerned. Then Ray remembered the text he’d sent him last night. He had hoped that it would suffice, but he should’ve known better. Michael could read him like a book. There really was no point in trying to hide anything.

Ray sat on a stool and gave in. He flashed a small smile of disbelief and shook his head. “No. I’m not.”

Michael’s eyes showed his sympathy and he sat next to Ray. “What happened?” he asked as he pulled out a glazed donut from the bag for his friend. Ray accepted it with a genuine smile and proceeded to do his best to explain last night to Michael. Some details he blanked on because the situation was traumatic for him, but ironically enough, the most traumatic details had already engraved themselves into his mind.

Michael stared in disbelief. “What the _fuck_?!” He couldn’t believe someone that they were both so close to had done that. He was genuinely pissed off and Ray noticed his fists beginning to form. Ray put a hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ray tried to give a big smile for the boy as if _he_ were the one that needed consoling. Michael appreciated it.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “You just really don’t deserve that shit. What was he thinking? He has no fucking right.” Michael held a grumpy expression but did his best to calm down.

Ray nodded. “I wish I knew, Michael.” He really did.

Michael could tell that Ray wasn’t looking for more conversation relating to Gavin. He decided to drop it for now, but he still couldn’t kick the protective feeling he held for Ray. He sighed.

“Hey. Do you mind if I keep you company here?” Michael asked. He didn’t want to leave the boy’s side and he honestly didn’t think he could handle sitting next to Gavin that day.

Ray looked at him for a moment before nodding excitedly. He loved that Michael was willing to give up a day of work just to help him out. He couldn’t ask for better company at that moment.

Michael’s face lit up at Ray’s reaction. He was determined to make Ray feel better, one way or another.

“Cool. Why don’t you go take a nice shower? It’ll wake you up.” He laughed at Ray’s still droopy eyelids. “I’ll stay out here, watch TV.”

Ray nodded again. He could really use a shower to relax, even though he was probably just going to end up thinking about everything he was trying to block out anyway. Nonetheless, he thanked Michael for his graciousness and went to go take a shower.

Michael turned on Ray’s TV and found a decent show by the time the shower started running. He tried to use the time Ray was out of the room to think of ways to cheer him up. His eyes scanned the apartment and stopped when they reached the living room closet. He got up to see what he could find.

There were three jackets (the only three Ray owned), a large pile of organized fanmail and gifts, an old comic book collection, and a broom. On the upper rack were four stacks of board games. Michael stared in awe at all of them. They all faced outwards to show their titles. “You are too fucking organized,” he mumbled. Most of the games Michael had never heard of. He couldn’t even believe that there were that many board games in existence. He reached up and slid out one of the stacks, piling them into his arms. He released them onto the living room floor and began to spread them out. He set up a game of Mancala, Scrabble, Battleship, and checkers. Those were the only ones from the stack that he knew how to play, so he chose them to prevent any embarrassment on his part.  He sat there and admired the little stations he had set up.

On the counter, Ray’s phone started to ring. Michael walked over. Out of curiosity, he looked to see who it was. The screen displayed a picture of Ray and Gavin making weird faces. Gavin was calling. Michael panicked. Should he tell Ray that he was calling? _Obviously not._ Should he ignore it? _Yeah, probably._ Or should he answer it? _No, that’s stu—_

“Hello?” Michael’s voice was casual, but he had no idea what he was doing. He was aware that he was invading Ray’s space. He just didn’t know what to do when it came to Gavin. Not only was it not his business, but he wasn’t supposed to know about any of it to begin with.

Gavin’s voice sounded very confused. “Uh… is that you, Michael? I thought I was calling Ray.” There was a pause for a moment while Gavin checked his phone to make sure he called the right contact.

Michael cleared his throat. “Yeah. Ray’s in the shower.” Shortly after saying that, he realized that it sounded pretty weird. He didn’t bother to elaborate, though, because Gavin didn’t deserve it. What did _he_ care what Ray was doing in his personal time?

Gavin was taken aback. “In the _shower_?”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, Gavin. In the shower. What do you want?”

He fumbled with his words for a moment. “I, uh… I wanted to talk to Ray… and, and I noticed you two are late. You not coming to work?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “No. We’re taking the day off.” Michael obviously couldn’t tell, but Gavin winced at the word “ _we’re_ ”.

There was an awkward period of silence on the line until Gavin broke it. “Together?”

“Mhm,” Michael replied. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he won’t bother you anymore. You made it pretty clear.” There was venom in his words and Gavin felt it.

He became defensive. “He’s not _bothering_ me. I just wanted to talk. I didn’t know you two would be sharing a bloody day out,” he remarked. “Could you just tell him to call me back?”

“Yeah, sure.” Michael hung up and placed the phone back on the counter.

A few minutes later, Ray emerged from his bedroom with damp hair and fresh clothes. “What’d I miss?” he asked with a grin. Michael smiled and gestured to the array of board games. Ray showed his excitement with an “oh my god!” and a dash towards Battleship. Michael laughed. He decided to hold off on telling Ray that Gavin had called. He was finally starting to come around and Michael didn’t want to ruin that for him. He wanted the old Ray back.

About midway through their intense, shout-filled game of Battleship, Michael got a text. They agreed to take a break and Ray went to go prepare some snacks. Michael looked at his phone. It was from Gavin.

_Did you even tell him to call me?? It’s been half a damn hour_

Michael frowned. Gavin had no right to be upset over a simple missed call when he had practically broken Ray. He texted back.

_I’m not going to. He doesn’t need this._

Michael hardly had time to lift his head before Gavin immediately texted back. He checked his phone again.

_Stop being a dick! I can’t even get to him, his phone is dead!_

Michael tried not to smirk and replied.

_Guess you’ll have to figure something out then._

An hour passed and there was no word from Gavin. The two had moved on to Mancala and were finally playing a round with established rules after they had spent nearly the entire time arguing over how to play correctly. Ray still had to assist Michael with some of his moves because he didn’t entirely get it, but they managed. They were halfway through their game when someone rapidly knocked on the door.

Ray raised an eyebrow. “No one ever comes to my door. Weird.” He shrugged and made his way over to it. Michael watched and began to think about how Gavin was trying to contact Ray. Maybe he was silent for so long because… Nah, that couldn’t be. Michael shook the thought from his head and looked as Ray opened the door.

But, it was. Gavin stood there awkwardly, holding an expression that was just as startled as Ray’s. He stuttered. “H-Hey Ray,” he mumbled.

Ray glanced back at Michael before responding. “Uhh, what are you doing here?”

Gavin exhaled deeply. “I needed to talk,” he muttered, trying to keep out of Michael’s range of hearing.

Ray looked confused. He didn’t know what to say, so Gavin spoke instead.

“May I please come in, explain some things?” His eyes were pleading for Ray’s approval and after a moment of hesitation, Ray slowly nodded.

Michael glared at him from across the apartment as he walked in. He glared back but didn’t let Ray notice.

Michael shot Ray a look of “ _what are you doing?_ ” and Ray just shrugged. He believed that everyone deserved a second chance, and Gavin wasn’t an exception.

“I tried to get ahold of you,” Gavin began, “but I couldn’t.” He flashed Michael an annoyed look then looked back at Ray. “So I decided to stop by.”

Ray turned his attention to Michael, who was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor. He parted his lips but didn’t say anything. Michael got the message and stood up.

“I’ll, uh… I’ll head out. Later.” With that, Michael gathered his things and left, knowing that whatever was happening wasn’t going to end up well.

Ray looked back at Gavin. Seeing the boy gave him so many mixed feelings, but he tried not to break eye contact. He didn’t want to be a coward.

Gavin bit his lip before speaking. “I’m… so, so sorry.” Ray nodded an acceptance. His apology didn’t make much of a difference to him, but he listened anyway.

“That… wasn’t… It wasn’t okay. I dunno. I just got caught up in…” Gavin had trouble finding his words and he looked at his feet.

Ray shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. X-Ray and Vav, right?” he smiled.

Gavin grinned. “Always.” His smile faded a bit. “But… What I’m trying to say is that you’re not a coward. I am. I’m too much of a little bitch to just own up to myself.” He looked angry, but it wasn’t at Ray. It was at himself.

Ray put down his guard. He realized that Gavin was being genuine, and he had problems of his own. _I guess I was too distracted with myself to even see that._

“Gavin.” The Brit was snapped out of his little state and reacted to his name. Ray continued.

“In a way… a really watered-down way,” he added, “you were right. I kind of was being a coward.”

Gavin shook his head and was about to interject but Ray kept talking.

“I shouldn’t have let you prevent me from saying what I was trying to say. Now that we’re here,” he gestured to the area around them, “I guess I should just spit it out. Right?”

Gavin slowly nodded.

“I’ve, uh… developed some feelings for you, I guess. I don’t know. I just see you, and I don’t think of you the way I think of other people. Something about you makes me happy, and I don’t really know how to pinpoint it, but it’s there. I didn’t want it to be, but I’ve had to accept that it’s there. And I know you probably think I’m just a creep for saying this but I had to—”

Gavin cut him off. “ _Ray!_ ” Ray flinched.

“Ray, I fucking love you! I’ve been a dick about it all week, but I can’t keep hiding it from myself. I love you, and I can’t imagine a life without you.”

Ray’s breath left his body. He never expected anything like that to have come from Gavin. Was he being serious?

He couldn’t formulate a response. “W-What?”

Gavin smiled at Ray’s confusion. “I’m so sorry. I love you so…” Gavin was going to say _I love you so much_ , but Ray’s interruption stopped him.

He kissed him. Ray’s lips met Gavin’s with a sort of thirst, and Gavin returned soon afterwards. Ray was buzzing from emotion. What had recently been heartbreak and self-hatred was now melting into personal joy. Gavin smiled into the kiss and Ray did the same. He placed his arms around Gavin’s neck and tangled one into his hair. Gavin held him and spread his fingers across his back.

Gavin broke the kiss to place some on Ray’s neck and he whimpered in protest. Gavin laughed. “Don’t worry,” he said.

“I’m right here.”


	10. Right Here - Part 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe it makes you feel important."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for the wait! There may be quite a bit of swearing in this chapter… I hope you enjoy! :)

Their moment eventually had to end because Gavin needed to return to work. Ray wished he could stay but he couldn’t ask him to. After all, this  _was_ just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and he couldn't expect Gavin to just ditch work for him already. He really wanted him to, though.

They separated, and Gavin gave an apologetic look. "I'll be back, alright?" He ruffled Ray's hair.

Ray smiled. "Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up."

Gavin gave him a final peck on the cheek before he left. Ray bit his tongue. He'd envisioned this moment so many times, but he never thought it would be so quick and unexpected. It kind of felt rushed, but Ray didn't care. He was just glad that it happened.

The only downside was the thoughts that ran through Ray's mind after Gavin left. He was left alone to think about everything that had happened, whether he liked it or not.

He thought about Michael. The more he thought about him, the more upset he became. Michael was looking out for him just to prevent this sort of thing from happening but Ray let it happen anyway. Michael had come to Ray's and agreed to take a day off just to comfort him. He'd set up board game stations just to cheer him up and he avoided bringing up Gavin to spare his feelings. And still, Ray basically kicked him out, just so he could see Gavin. He felt awful. But even worse, he knew that Michael most likely wouldn't be okay with what had happened between him and Gavin, so he decided that he wouldn't mention it... Just for now.

He thought about Gavin. It was only hours ago that he had screamed at Ray, calling him a _fucking coward_. He had shown up uninvited to justify himself. And still, Ray loved him. No one had ever made Ray feel so mixed up and confused at once, but he still wanted him. Even if it was just one kiss, he would take what he could get. Then he started to wonder if this was just a one-time thing. Was Gavin going to brush it off like nothing happened? Or maybe he would become involved with Ray, but hide it from everyone because he was embarrassed? The thoughts made Ray sick, and he decided to push them aside by taking a nap.

 

—————————————————————————————————————————

 

Both Michael and Gavin showed up late for work, and it was awkward to try to explain to Geoff, but he didn't really care. He was having a busy day so he let them both off free. Michael had shown up earlier than Gavin, though, so he was at his desk when Gavin showed up. He glared at him for a moment before looking back at his screen. Gavin felt uncomfortable but did his own work.

Throughout the day, Michael kept shooting glares at Gavin, and Gavin ignored them. He knew that Michael must have been upset because of his earlier behavior, but it wasn't a big deal. He'd apologized and Ray was fine. He didn't think Michael had a right to be so involved and worked-up about it. He was excited to return to Ray at the end of the day, though, so he didn't really mind the evil looks he was receiving.

Lunch time finally came and Gavin thought he'd maybe go to McDonald's or something. The rest of the guys except for Michael left the room and before Gavin followed them, he looked back at him.

"What's bugging you, Michael?" he asked calmly, thinking he'd be able to have a brief confrontation before he could go eat.

Michael slowly turned back and looked at him. "Are you fucking serious?" he said, his voice startling Gavin since he hadn't heard it all day.

"Uh... y-yeah," he replied, confused by Michael's anger.

Michael stood up with a swift motion and pointed at Gavin. "You fucking broke Ray's heart and then just came back and acted like nothing happened. Who the _hell_ do you think you are? Just because Ray will let you get away with that doesn't mean you should treat him like shit. He was completely fine before _you_ showed up." Michael's shouting was unheard by the others, thankfully, because they'd already left the building.

Gavin stared at him nervously. "I already talked to him about it... We're fine. I apologized, I know it was stupid." His voice was still at a normal level, way below Michael's.

"If you knew it was stupid, then why did you fucking do it?! You weren't there this morning to see how fucked up he was. He didn't have the energy to do anything. Because of **you**. You are a disease, and I can't fucking stand you."

Michael's words pierced him. He did not expect anything like this -- he knew Michael would be upset, but not _this_ furious. "Why are you saying this?" he asked quietly.

Michael raised his hands in frustration. "You fucking _idiot_! How can I spell this out for you?! Every day you come in here, with your stupid fucking grin, you sit down and piss everybody off, then you go home and fuck with everybody's head. You get some sort of kick out of this. I don't know, maybe it makes you feel important!"

Gavin frowned. This wasn't fair. Michael had no right to verbally abuse him, especially when it was none of his business. "Excuse me?" Gavin asked, slowly raising his voice. "You have no damn right to say this to me. I don't know why you're so bitchy about this. This has literally _nothing_ to do with you. This is between me and Ray, and as I already told you, we're fine. So why don't you fucking untwist your panties and get over it?" Gavin almost felt bad for retaliating the way he did, but it was nothing compared to how Michael was treating him.

Michael's face turned red. "He is my _best friend_ , Gavin! More of a friend than you've ever been to me, and I can't believe that he's letting you so far into his life, but I'm not just going to sit back and let you fuck him over again! Stay the fuck away from him, you prick!" he shouted in Gavin's face. He took the nearest object of Gavin's that he could find, his keyboard, and pulled it from his desk. He threw it as hard as he could against the opposite wall and it smashed in half, leaving some debris around Jack and Geoff's desks. Gavin stared in shock before he was shoved out of the way of the door by Michael. He hit the wall with a thud, and Michael stormed out of the building, his fists clenched tight.

Gavin was frozen for a couple of minutes. He made sure Michael was gone before he started to assess the damage. The wall had a small hole in it and keys from the keyboard littered Jack's desk. Bits of wire and plastic rested against Geoff's workspace and the two halves lay on the ground. _Great_. Now not only was Michael infuriated with Gavin and probably plotting something, but he also had to skip lunch, clean up the office, explain the situation to Geoff, and pay for a new $300 keyboard.

He also had to talk to Ray, but he had a feeling that Michael was going to do that first.


	11. Right Here - Part 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I just want to prove it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter! Warning, there is some suggestive material. *cough cough* But anyway, enjoy! Let me know what you think. :3

Within a few minutes of Michael’s episode, he had arrived at Ray’s apartment. He slammed his door and rushed up the stairs, anger still burning in his chest. He knocked hard a couple of times against the door and shoved his hands in his pockets impatiently.

Thirty seconds passed and there was no indication of anyone there. Michael huffed and knocked even harder. “Fucking open _up_ , Ray!”

The door finally cracked open and Ray squinted at him through his glasses.

“I was sleeping, dude. Why are you –”

Michael ignored him and pushed past him to enter the apartment. Ray blinked with confusion and shut the door behind him. “Alright…”

Michael spun around to face him.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked with an aggravated tone.

Ray rubbed his eyes before responding. “Why am I doing what? I don’t know what you’re—”

“You _know_ what I’m talking about! Why are you going after that fucking idiot?!”

Ray bit his lip. He knew Michael would be upset, but he didn’t expect him to explode like this. He was supposed to be his best friend, why was he overreacting so much?

“He’s not an idiot…” Ray started.

Michael rolled his eyes. “What _ever_. I got it, Ray. You had some crush on him, yeah. But why does that make it okay for you to totally disrespect yourself by letting him **use** you? You’re just a game to him! We both know he’s going to get bored and fucking break your heart again, and _then_ what are you gonna do? Huh?” He held his arms out similar to the way Gavin had the night before.

Ray could feel a lump swelling in his throat. He took a deep breath before speaking.

“Why is it such a problem to you that I’m actually happy?” Michael rolled his eyes again and was about to reply, but Ray continued.

“I’m **not** just a piece of shit, Michael. I’m a human being.” He patted his hand over his chest.

“I really… really like Gavin. I trust him, and I know that I’m not _just a game_. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d stop yelling, because my fucking neighbors are going to start filing complaints. Also, I feel like I’ve had enough of people coming to my apartment just to tell me off. God dammit,” he muttered.

Michael’s expression softened a bit but he was still upset. He lowered his voice.

“Don’t you _get it_ , Ray? I’m just trying to help you. You’re not even trying to help yourself, and it hurts to see you do this. I know you, and I know Gavin. This isn’t… This isn’t realistic.” He removed his beanie for a second and ran his hand through his hair nervously. “I know that you can do better.”

Ray smiled weakly and sat down on a stool. He sighed and shook his head.

“Michael – you’re the only one I can depend on. I need you to tell me, right here, right now, that you’re okay with this.”

Michael just looked at him. A long, quiet moment passed of Ray just staring at him with a begging expression, and he finally broke the silence that choked them both.

“I can’t.”

Ray’s heart sank. He felt it fall to his stomach, and with that he felt his friendship fall, too. He looked away from Michael and tried not to trip on his words.

“Then you need to leave.”

Michael nodded once and slowly made his way to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and hesitated for a moment.

_“You’re making a mistake. Please don’t do this. Just trust me. I’m sorry, Ray. Can I please just stay, can we talk this out?”_

He wished he had the courage to say those words. Instead, he left, allowing the silence between both of them to win.

 —————————————————————————————————————————

Gavin pulled into the parking lot of Ray’s apartment complex. He parked and got out of the car, rushing to go see Ray. He needed to tell him about what happened with Michael, even though he’d probably already reached Ray. He’d probably already told him how much of an ass he thought Gavin was, and he’d probably already convinced him to break up with him. Gavin didn’t want to let another opportunity slip through his fingers. He couldn’t afford to lose Ray this time.

He started towards the stairs up to the apartment, but stopped when he spotted Ray. He was sitting on the curb, head in his hands, covering his eyes. Gavin frowned and slowly walked up next to him. He placed a hand on Ray’s shoulder, causing him to jump.

“O-Oh, sorry. You scared me.” He sniffed and sat upright.

Ray’s eyes were red and he looked tired. He wiped at his face, trying to hide it from Gavin. Gavin gazed at him, shocked.

“Are… Are you crying?”

Ray sniffed again. “What? I’m fine.” He blinked the remaining moisture out of his eyes and tried to smile for him.

Without thinking, Gavin removed his sweatshirt and placed it around the boy’s shoulders. He knelt down in front of him and held onto his arm, looking him directly in the eye.

He thought about asking him what happened, what Michael had said. He couldn’t stand seeing Ray upset anymore, though.

“Let’s get out of here.”

 —————————————————————————————————————————

The two ended up driving away, and when they finally decided where to go, they stopped at an ice cream shop. They sat there for half an hour together. They ate cookie dough ice cream, and Gavin dedicated that time to making Ray feel better. It slowly worked, and Ray’s smile grew as the minutes passed. Michael wasn’t mentioned, the situation wasn’t mentioned, and they were enjoying themselves. When they left, they decided to go to Gavin’s house. Ray had had enough of his apartment for now.

They drove to Gavin’s place and Ray smiled as they walked up to the door.

“So this is your new place, huh? I was starting to think it was a myth.”

Gavin chuckled. He had recently moved out of Geoff’s house and was renting his own. “Yeah, well, it’s something. I guess.” He turned the key and opened the door.

“Don’t mind the mess, I haven’t quite finished unpacking,” he explained as he led them in.

Boxes stacked against the walls in neat lines. His furniture was moved in but the kitchen and living room were mostly empty. Some items were scattered on the counter from when he attempted to unpack once, but he hadn’t since then.

Ray smiled. He didn’t know why, but it felt nice to see where Gavin lived. He felt like it gave him more insight into what his life was like. He almost felt closer to Gavin, and he had just stepped through the door.

“It looks nice!” he complimented. “You need to unpack though. Lazy ass,” he teased.

Gavin smirked. “Thanks. Douche.”

Ray laughed and walked around the kitchen, inspecting the house.

“Hey, you wanna watch some Netflix or something?” Gavin offered. Ray smiled and nodded.

“Alright. My computer’s set up in my room, so follow me!” he exclaimed as he ran down the hallway in a superhero-like fashion. Ray giggled and followed him to the bedroom.

Gavin’s monitor was set up on top of his dresser, connected to his laptop. He motioned for Ray to sit on the bed and walked over to start playing a show.

Ray plopped down onto the bed, propping himself against the headboard with a pillow. Gavin quickly joined him and leaned against his shoulder as they started watching the show. Ray couldn’t stop smiling and he was glad that Gavin couldn’t see how silly he looked from his position.

Twenty minutes passed and the credits for the show started rolling. Gavin sat up and Ray silently pouted at the separation. Gavin looked over at him and decided that now would be a good time to ask him what happened.

“Ray,” he started. Ray smiled at his name and Gavin melted from how sweet it was.

“What did Michael say to you?” he asked delicately.

Ray’s smile faded and he bit his cheek. “Oh… You know.” He shrugged. “He just was mad. It’s whatever.”

Gavin frowned. “Please tell me what he said?”

Ray couldn’t deny him then. “He said that you’re using me, and that you’ll get bored and leave me soon.” Ray’s expression was pained. “I told him to tell me that he was okay with us. He said he couldn’t, so I told him to leave. And he left.”

Gavin could practically feel Ray’s heartache and he furrowed his eyebrows. “That is so untrue… You know that, right? I love you.” He stared at Ray, waiting for a reassurance.

“Of course.” Ray grinned back at him. “You’re worth it, Gav.”

Gavin beamed at the compliment and reached for his hand. “Yeah, but, I _really_ love you.”

“I _really_ love you, too,” Ray said, chuckling.

Then Gavin moved on top of Ray, lightly pushing him back onto the bed. He straddled him and looked down at him. Ray blushed and looked back nervously.

“I just want to prove it,” Gavin muttered. He leaned down and placed a slow kiss onto Ray’s lips. Ray was caught off guard, but he returned the kiss after a few seconds. Gavin lightly slid his tongue across Ray’s lower lip and Ray allowed him to continue.

He slowly and carefully explored Ray’s mouth, then met his tongue with his own. He eventually pulled away and sat back up, looking down at Ray again.

Ray’s face was a little red and he stared at him, expecting more.

Gavin gave a little smile. “I love the way your mouth moves when you’re anxious.”

Ray smiled back, embarrassed. Gavin continued.

“And I love the way you touch your neck when you’re lying.” He leaned down again, this time placing his lips upon the skin of Ray’s neck. Ray inhaled deeply and bent his head back to allow him easier access. Gavin sucked in tiny spots down to his shoulder. He bit lightly against the base of Ray’s neck, waiting until he could hear Ray gasp to bite even harder. He sucked on it a bit more before placing a gentle kiss upon it and sitting back up. Ray’s head spun at the feeling that Gavin had left on his skin; the pleasure mixed with the pain in the perfect combination.

He slid his hands underneath Ray’s shirt and looked up for permission. Ray nodded and allowed him to remove it, tossing it on the floor next to them. He placed both of his hands flat upon his abdomen. The heat transferred from Ray’s body onto Gavin’s palms.

“I love the way your heart beats fast when I touch you.”

He ran his fingers up across Ray’s chest. He lowered his mouth to meet his collarbone, slowly tracing his way down Ray’s body with his tongue and stopping every now and then to nip at him. He made sure to make contact with Ray’s nipple, causing him to bite his lip in reaction.

“I love the way you trust me. I love that I still have so much more to learn about you. So much more to explore.” His hand ran across Ray’s crotch and Ray gasped slightly. Then Gavin slowly grinded against him, causing him to moan.

Gavin smirked. He took this opportunity to remove his own shirt and he tossed it next to Ray’s.

His hand met Ray’s crotch again and he could feel the tight body heat.

“I love the way you’ve _held on_ to me this whole time.” This time he rubbed harder, placing a grasp against him. Ray moaned louder and bucked his hips into Gavin’s hand.

Gavin looked down at him and grinned, knowing and cherishing the fact that Ray was now putty in his hands.


	12. Right Here - Part 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was only looking out for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s part 12, enjoy! :)

Ray woke up to the bright sunlight shining against his face. He squinted and looked around. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was in Gavin’s room instead of his own.

He rolled onto his side to be face-to-face with the sleeping Brit. His face was serene and his lips were slightly parted. His chest rose and fell with slow breaths and his hair was messy and disheveled from last night. Ray couldn’t help but smile at how innocent the boy looked, but he was the only one that had the pleasure of knowing how far from innocent Gavin could really be. He laid there, just watching his love peacefully sleep.

Then memories from last night started to roll into his head. He recalled the trembling hands, shaky breaths, and beads of sweat. He thought of the way Gavin repeated his name, and the way he’d pull on his hair when he was doing something right. The way Gavin knew what he was doing, and how his fingers grazed upon Ray’s skin…

Gavin’s eyelids flitted open and he squinted against the sunlight. Once he registered Ray’s body in front of his, he smiled. Ray returned the smile and lifted his hand to cup his face. He leaned in and placed a kiss upon Gavin’s lips, letting it linger before pulling away again.

“Gav?” he said quietly.

Gavin looked at him. “Yeah, Ray?” he asked softly.

Ray kept his smile and muttered into Gavin’s ear.

“ _We’re late for work_.”

Gavin’s eyes opened wide and he sat up quickly. “Shit!”

Ray giggled at him and threw the covers off of his self. He stretched his arms as Gavin scrambled to the bathroom to get ready for the day. They were supposed to be at the office an hour ago, but Ray wasn’t as concerned as Gavin was. He was happy and a stern talking-to from Geoff wouldn’t bring down his mood.

He casually gathered his clothes from Gavin’s floor and pulled them on. He didn’t want to seem weird for wearing the same clothes from yesterday, though, so he padded over to the closet.

“Can I borrow a hoodie?” he asked, already flipping through the clothes hangers. “Yeah, sure,” Gavin responded from the other room. He was rushing to fix his hair and wash his face. Ray settled for a bright red sweatshirt that he’d never seen Gavin wear before. He slipped into it and it was a little big for him but it was comfortable.

“How come I’ve never seen you wear this before?” he asked curiously. He stood in the doorway of the bathroom and watched Gavin as he finished brushing his teeth. Gavin glanced up and shrugged.

“I don’t remember where I got that. Red’s not really my color, anyway.” He grabbed his cologne and sprayed some on his self, then pointed it at Ray in a threatening way.

“Whoa, whoa – don’t do that. That shit’s too strong.” He backed away and coughed at the overbearing smell. “Besides, we can’t just smell like each other. People don’t need to know that we… That I stayed here.” He shifted on his feet nervously. When _were_ they going to tell their friends what was going on? If they were even going to. Things felt pretty serious to Ray, though, so he assumed that it would happen eventually.

“I _do_ smell great, though.” Gavin grinned and Ray just laughed at him.

“If you think teenagers at the mall smell great, then yeah…” he muttered, and Gavin hit his shoulder playfully.

After a few minutes, Gavin finally finished getting ready and they set off to go to work.

 —————————————————————————————————————————

When Michael noticed that Ray and Gavin weren’t at work, he was relieved. He didn’t want to deal with either of them. But he was also kind of sad. Even though he was angry with the two, they were still his best friends, and he kind of missed them sitting next to him, making stupid jokes and livening the office. And then he thought about how they were gone _together_ , and he realized that they had probably spent the night together, and he was irritated. He wished that Ray would just realize how wrong this all was. He was only looking out for him.

Michael’s head hurt and he was tired of thinking about them so he turned his attention to his work. He managed to successfully film a Rage Quit and edit about a quarter of it. He didn’t really talk to anyone, just stayed reserved and focused.

An hour and a half after they were supposed to be there, Ray and Gavin finally showed up. They entered the office together and greeted their friends. Geoff glared at them and told them that if it happened one more time, there’d be actual consequences. They nodded in agreement and sat at their desks.

Michael couldn’t help but glance at Ray, who was just avoiding eye contact with him. He sighed and got up to leave the room. He walked to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His face was more pale than usual and he felt kind of light-headed. He thought that he might have just not eaten recently enough, so he splashed some water on his face before going to grab a banana from the kitchen.

They worked next to each other quietly and the office was pretty relaxed. The only sounds that could be heard were some conversations held between Jack and Geoff every now and then.

Gavin and Ray started to pack up to go somewhere for lunch, but Geoff stopped them.

“If you assholes were here this morning, you would’ve heard that we’re having a meeting today during lunch, here in the kitchen.”

They sighed and put their stuff back down. Michael rolled his eyes and saved his progress, getting up to follow Geoff to the kitchen. They walked behind him, followed by Jack and Ryan.

Geoff sat down at one of the tables with Jack and Ryan, leaving Michael, Ray, and Gavin to sit at the other. They awkwardly took their seats and Michael pulled out a sandwich he’d packed.

Ray cleared his throat nervously and looked at Michael.

“So… are we talking about the Let’s Plays?” Michael just nodded without looking at him as he took a bite out of his food.

“The new channel and shit,” he muttered in response. The two across from him slowly nodded and tried to think of suggestions.

Michael turned his focus to Ray suddenly.

“Hey, Ray. Where’d you get that hoodie?” he asked in a suspiciously calm tone.

Ray glanced at Gavin who just shrugged. He bit his lip. “Uhh… I dunno, it was just laying around.” He wasn’t a good liar and everyone knew that already.

Michael smiled and nodded back at him. “Yeah? Weird,” he muttered. “Looks a lot like Gavin’s,” he added smugly.

Gavin stared at him with confusion. “How’d you…” His voice trailed off.

“I got you that hoodie for Christmas, you dumb fuck.” He set down his sandwich and stared back angrily. “Good to know that you enjoyed it enough to give it to your boy toy, here,” he remarked, gesturing to an embarrassed Ray.

“Hey,” Gavin responded. “Cool it, yeah?”

Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “Me? I’m fine.” He leaned across the table and his voice lowered. “If you didn’t want it to be obvious, maybe next time you shouldn’t take the _same car_.”

Ray sighed. “Michael, really. Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Michael asked. “I’m not doing shit.”

“Why can’t you just be mature?” Gavin remarked. “Just get over it so we can all move on.”

Michael placed his palms on the table and stood up.

“Whatever,” he spat. “Have fun fucking your boyfriend.” He spun around and left the room in a hurry with everyone’s eyes on his back.

He only made it a few steps out the door before he started to stumble. He felt extremely dizzy and his heart was racing. He was in a cold sweat and he started to get tunnel vision.

He attempted to yell, but he fell before he could manage to say anything, and his head hit the concrete floor with a loud _crack_.


	13. Right Here - Part 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Chin up, love."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to thank everyone who’s been following this fic so much for reading, and everyone who will in the future! I’m planning on making the next chapter the last. I’m sorry for the short notice, but I’ve been figuring out how this is going to end and I think I’ve got it. But, I’m going to be starting a new fic series soon and I’m so excited for it! I think you guys will like it. Anyways, enjoy, and let me know what you think! :)

The minutes dragged by in the waiting room.

They were informed that Michael would be fine, but he needed surgery. Even though the surgery was pretty minor, it was still taken very seriously. The front left area of his skull was cracked and needed to be repaired. The wound had spilled Michael's blood upon the floor of the Rooster Teeth office. Ray wondered if someone was cleaning it up right now.

The monitor in the front of the room displayed the surgery status of various head trauma patients and every now and then the silence was interrupted by a phone call for one of the patients' loved ones. There was a small area with toys and coloring books for children and a big stack of magazines on each coffee table. A muted television played the local news. The far wall was made of glass to see the view outside and the Achievement Hunter crew sat in a half-circle against it.

Geoff's head was rested against the wall with his eyes closed. He crossed his arms and his sunglasses reflected the bright light from outside. Griffon sat next to him doing the same. Jack was in the next seat, surfing the internet on his phone. Millie was coloring away nearby and Ryan sat on the floor next to her, reading a book intently. Burnie was there but had left earlier. Caleb even stayed with them to show his support.

Gavin and Ray sat next to each other, backs to the window-wall. They shared music with a pair of headphones since Ray didn't have his. Gavin occupied his mind with a game of Tetris on his phone but Ray just sat there, staring at the floor. They couldn't show any unusual signs of affection since the rest of the office didn't know about them yet. This definitely wasn't a good time to tell them, either.

Caleb noticed their boredom and nudged Ray's shoulder. Ray pulled his one headphone out and looked at him.

"You guys wanna get some lunch at the cafeteria?" he offered. Gavin looked up as well and watched Ray for his response.

He glanced back at Gavin before giving a small shrug. "Sure. It'll be nice to get out of this room."

Caleb smiled and got up to leave with the two guys behind him, but Millie ran up from her spot next to Ryan.

"Can I come, Moocow?!" she asked Caleb excitedly. He looked back at Ryan and received a nod of approval, then grinned and took her hand. "Of course! Let's go!"

She reached up and grabbed Ray's hand with her free one. He chuckled and Gavin smiled at them. He felt himself falling in love with Ray right then and there.

Caleb and Ray swung Millie in the air as they made their way down the hospital hallways, Gavin in tow. After an elevator ride and some more walking, they finally found the cafeteria. They each filled their trays and paid at the checkout. They settled on a table inside and Ray and Gavin sat across from Caleb and Millie.

Ray took a deep breath and appreciated the air inside. It was still hospital air, but it was much better than the room they had already spent two hours in.

"So..." Caleb started. "What even happened?"

He was upstairs when Michael had stormed out and fallen, so the only thing he saw was the mess it left afterwards. Gavin cleared his throat.

"He was walking out of the kitchen, and I guess he just... slipped." Gavin did his best to sound confused, and it worked.

"That's too bad," Caleb muttered. He took a sip of his water and picked at his salad. Millie put down her spoonful of pudding and looked up at Gavin.

"Will he be okay?" she asked with a concerned little look. Gavin smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Of course, Millie. Michael's gonna be fine. You can say hi to him soon. His head's just gonna hurt for a while." Millie looked relieved and went back to her pudding.

The four eventually finished eating and started to leave the cafeteria. Before they reached the elevators, Gavin stopped.

"Caleb, I think Ray and I are gonna take a little walk. It's lovely out."

Caleb just nodded and got on the elevator with Millie to go back to the waiting room. Gavin turned around.

"Where are we going?" Ray asked with a slight smile.

"I don't know," Gavin replied. He took Ray's hand and started walking down the hallway. "I just know that I've been sitting next to you for hours without being able to touch you and it's bullocks."

Ray laughed and followed him until they reached a quiet corner. Gavin leaned against the wall and pulled Ray into a hug.

Ray was caught off guard but melted into the boy's arms. He didn't realize it, but this was just what he needed. He clutched tight at Gavin's sweatshirt and tried his hardest not to cry.

Gavin rested his head against Ray's neck and placed a small kiss onto his shoulder.

"This is all my fault," Ray mumbled so quietly that even he could hardly hear it.

Gavin took Ray by the shoulders and held him out at arm's length.

"This is **not** your fault." He stared into Ray's eyes, trying to get his point across. "Do _not_ blame yourself. This isn't your fault. Okay?"

Ray gave a small nod and Gavin leaned in, kissing him softly.

"Michael needs you. Chin up, love."

 —————————————————————————————————————————

They entered the waiting room and their friends were still doing what they were an hour ago, except now Ryan was also asleep. The sun was setting and job shifts had changed. Millie watched as they walked in and she waved her hand for them to come over.

"Will you sit with me? Ry's asleep. He's boring."

They grinned at her innocence and sat cross-legged with her around the small table.

"Coloring, huh?" Gavin asked. Millie nodded excitedly.

He shared a coloring book with Ray and they colored a big picture of Hello Kitty and a unicorn. They giggled the whole time and received weary looks from other people in the room.

While Ray was teasing Gavin for his lack of ability to color inside the lines, he was cut off by a man wearing gloves and a long white coat.

"Excuse me, are you here for Michael Jones?"

The two boys' faces sobered and Ray nodded. The man held out a hand and Ray shook it nervously.

"I'm Dr. Reyburn. Michael's surgery just finished -- everything went well." Ray let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in and felt a heavy weight come off of him.

"They're waking him up now and he'll be ready for visitors soon. Would you like me to take you up to his room?"


	14. Right Here - Part 14 (Ending)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Look at you, all bandaged up. You really do look like the Mighty Mogar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man. Here we are. The ending of my first fic series. I THINK I MIGHT CRY. ;( Thank you so much to everyone who’s followed the story and encouraged me to continue. I really loved writing these chapters. Not only has it made me more recognized in the fandom, but it also helped me practiced my writing a lot. Hopefully you guys will enjoy the new fic series I’m planning! Anyways, thank you again for reading. This chapter doesn’t have a whole lot of content but it pretty much just wraps up the story. I hope you enjoy! <3

Ray was more anxious than he thought he’d be as he walked with Gavin to Michael’s room. They followed the doctor through doors that were strictly for patients and visitors, and Ray wished that they didn't have to be there at all. This was all stupid. They should be at home, playing video games and watching TV or whatever. They shouldn't be spending their day at the hospital. Fucking Michael.

"Here we are," the doctor said to them as they approached the door. "Room 436, Hall C. If you need directions back, just ask a nurse." With that, he smiled and walked away.

Ray stared at the little whiteboard on the door. _Michael Jones, 5/10/13_ was sloppily written in red marker. He messed around with the fabric inside both of his pockets and didn't say anything.

Gavin could tell he was too nervous to enter, so he grabbed one of his hands. Ray broke out of his trance and looked at him.

"I don't..." Ray started, but he trailed off. Gavin squeezed his hand.

"It's okay, Ray. He's all fixed now. Don't you wanna see him all better?"

Ray sighed. "It was bad enough that he hated me before, but now he just had fucking head surgery, and it's all my--"

"It's **not** your fault," Gavin interrupted.

"I guess," Ray mumbled. "I just don't want to be here."

Gavin kissed his cheek and then let go of his hand. "He needs you right now. No matter how pissy he is, you're still his best friend." Ray chuckled and relaxed a bit.

"Now let's go in," Gavin said. Ray took a deep breath and let him go first.

Gavin pushed the handle of the door and opened it slowly, peeking in before stepping forward. The curtain was halfway drawn so Gavin couldn't see Michael, just a nurse with a name tag that read "Katie" who was helping adjust his pillows. She noticed Gavin and she gave a small smile.

"Almost done here, I was just taking some vitals." She turned back to Michael and gave him a warm look. "Are you good for now?" she asked, and Gavin assumed he nodded from the silence in return.

"Alright," she replied. "You got some visitors here already, you must be popular!" Gavin smiled and an awkward Ray still stood behind him.

"I'll be back in twenty," she added, and she brushed by Ray and Gavin as she left the room with a quickness that all of the nurses seemed to have.

Gavin braced himself and walked into the room. The TV hanging on the wall in front of Michael's bed was playing Storage Wars at a low volume, slightly drowned out by the beeping of various machines stacked behind the bed. His room had its own bathroom and the window gave a perfect view of the lake outside. It was almost 9:00 now, so the room was dark except for a dim light above Michael. Michael's head was wrapped with thick bandages and Gavin could tell that half of it had been shaved for surgery. By request, the nurses avoided Michael's tattoos when they placed IV's. Liquid slowly dripped from a bag next to him into his arm.

Despite the circumstances, Michael looked genuinely happy to see Gavin. His face lit up and he gave a droopy smile as he walked closer. The first weak words that came out of his mouth were, "Hey, dickie bitch!"

Gavin grinned with surprise and patted his shoulder in greeting. He sat down in the chair that was already placed at his bedside.

"Hey! Look at you, all bandaged up. You really do look like the Mighty Mogar." Michael laughed with half-lidded eyes and slow movement, but it was still his same old contagious laughter. "It's just a band-aid," he slurred, and Gavin giggled at his haziness.

Michael's eyes started to search the room for Ray and they eventually found him, quietly leaning against the opposite wall. He raised a hand, the IV tube dangling from his arm. "Get over here!"

Ray walked around to the other side of Michael's bed and tried to smile. Michael noticed his discomfort and frowned.

"What's wrong?" he asked with a hoarse voice. Ray hesitated but Gavin spoke before he could answer.

"He feels like this is his fault."

Michael furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Ray. "Bull _shit_ ," he said, and a little smile tugged at Ray's lips. Michael laid his hand open next to him, indicating for Ray to hold it. Ray pulled up a chair and sat next to him, grabbing his upturned hand. Gavin couldn't help but tear up a little bit at the sight.

Michael's eyes danced around for a moment, looking at every aspect of Ray's face. His expression looked so peaceful, like it did when he was asleep, except this time he was awake -- just on tons of meds. They continued to stare at each other for a few seconds before Michael broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for being such a prick."

Ray smiled and shook his head. "Don't be sorry. I probably would have done the same. You were just looking out for me."

Michael held his hand tighter. "No, no -- I was fucking stupid. You and Gavin are great." He turned his head towards the other boy. "Gav, I'm so sorry." Gavin just nodded an acceptance and smiled at him.

He looked at Ray again and his eyes were wider now with sincerity. "What kind of friend was I, standing in the way and shit? I should've backed you up. I don't know what got into me." His words melted together lazily as he spoke them but they still managed to flow well enough to get his point across. "I guess this is what I get, huh?"

"Hey, stop it. It's not your fault," Ray defended.

"Then it's not yours either," Michael said.

Ray smiled and nodded. "Deal."

"Now _kiss_!" Gavin shouted, and Michael swung at him, hitting him in the shoulder. The three of them all laughed together, something they hadn't done for a while.

"God dammit, Michael," Ray said after their laughter had subsided. "It'd be cool if you could stop slipping and cracking your head open. Hospitals fucking suck."

Michael laughed. "What'd it look like?"

"Blood... everywhere," Gavin responded. "Remember when you told me that people bleed from their head the most? I guess you weren't kidding."

Michael almost smiled with pride. "Cool. Well, at least I gave the surgeons some practice. Hopefully they didn't use a fucking battleaxe on my skull like you did," he added, referencing their Surgeon Simulator videos.

"That would've been cooler," Gavin mumbled, eliciting a fit of laughter from Michael.

"But, really..." Ray said. "We all know you came here just for the sweet haircut." He ruffled Michael's remaining hair and Michael swatted his hand away.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Ray smirked. "Whatever you say, Skrillex."


End file.
